Perspectives
by SirSpudly
Summary: It's amazing how drastically people's views of a situation, person or event can alter simply by looking at it from a different point of view. Mostly revolving around some OC's but will pretty heavily include Daryl 'cause that dude is a badass. If pairings ever come into it (Read: If I stick with this long enough for Daryl and Carol to meet) it'll almost definitely be a Caryl fic
1. Chapter 1

Hi there, This is my first story, I'm not saying this because I want you to overlook my flaws and be nice to me, merely to let you know that I have no idea what I'm doing. For a long-winded explanation of why I'm bothering with posting stories at all, check out my profile but the short of it goes something like this: I like fiction, it gives people a chance to create a world where their own ideas are brought to life, That world can be a branch from an existing fandom or something entirely unique and that is a beautiful thing.

I watch alot of TV, Play more than my fair share of Games and read a book from time to time which means that I have a lot of stuff in my head and sometimes my brain runs with an idea and it becomes a story, without an output the ideas bunch up and that just makes my head hurt so I figured why not give this a go, with that said though, I never said any of the ideas were any good. That is entirely up to you to judge for yourself.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

( In which a guy meets a girl )

"See, Now if you'd just told us where your camp is, we wouldn't have to be treatin' ya like this."

Fletcher Cross had always been a relatively patient man but if his captor decided to drag that knife across his skin one more time... He'd do nothing. There is very little a man can do when bound to a chair with multiple lengths of rope. As a pragmatist, Fletcher is aware that his current predicament is a bit of a tough one and that regardless of how strongly he wishes it to be otherwise, for the moment he is trapped.

"But if I _were_ to tell you where my camp was, I'd be dead as would anybody you may or may not find there so considering the fact that I'm still kicking, I'm going to chalk this one up as a win" It hurt to smirk. Actually, at this point it hurt to do a lot of things but the glint of barely contained anger at being taunted in his captor's eyes made it worth it. Anger made people sloppy and Joe always was a pretty angry guy.

Joseph Cuttler had always been a despicable human being, the sort of guy you would lock yourself in a bomb shelter full of venomous spiders to avoid the displeasure of meeting. He always had some scheme running that would improve his own lot in life regardless of the detriment it could cause others. He was very charismatic and new the perfect way to gather the like-minded to back his current scheme at the time but he often felt he had to hold back to ensure that he wouldn't get caught doing anything that would be frowned upon by anybody who could do anything about it.

Now that the world had gone to hell and there was no longer a hierarchy Joe had discovered that holding back was no longer necessary and had therefore flourished to become the type of person that kidnaps people while they're out on a run getting formula for their neighbours newborn baby and then mercilessly tortured the aforementioned captive in an effort to discover the location of their camp so that he could go and garner more supplies and possibly (Though significantly less likely) gather more similarly psychopathic brethren to rally behind him on his path of greed and self preservation.

Fletcher was yanked from his thoughts to realize that he was being dragged toward the water trough in the corner of his current "_Interrogation"_ room. This could be bad.

"I suppose you think you're funny huh" * dunk * "Hard to make jokes when you can't breathe isn't it" * dunk * "Ready to tell us what we want to know?"

" *cough**cough* No I'm good, I think I'll wait until I can breathe again. Like you said, _It's hard to talk when you can't breathe"_

It was the poor imitation of Joe's voice that actually broke then paper thin wall holding back his rage and Fletcher found himself on the floor being repeatedly kicked in any exposed area. This was the third night he'd been here and it always ended this way. It was almost tradition.

5 minutes into the usual 30 minute beating and things took an unpleasant turn as Joe's attention was pulled away by a scream from one of the other rooms in the small office building he and his goons were held up in.

"Ooooh.. That sounds like fun" Joe turned with a lecherous grin and stormed from the room ordering the goon, the one that Fletcher had affectionately began to refer to as 'Pork chop', who was stationed at the door to "Tie that worthless sack of dirt up again, I'll be back later to finish this"

That was the moment Fletcher realized that he was at a crossroad He could lie here and die and be done with everything or he could get up and fight his way out… It was a good thing he was comfortable.

As he lay there he mentally checked off his list of responsibilities and decided whether there was anything left for him outside of the room in which he currently lay.

1. The neighbours he was on a supply run for had probably moved on, Fletcher could hardly be angry though Considering he'd told them to leave if he didn't return within the day.

2. Mr Gibbs, He'd always taken pride in how well trained that dog had been. He'd been trained to hunt for himself so, assuming that Joe hadn't seen fit to chase him down and kill him for fun, Gibbs should be fine.

3...

Fletcher was a little bit discouraged to realize that he couldn't think of a third reason for bothering to get up. Three was a good number. All good things come in threes and such.

Fletcher's inner monologue was interrupted by the door opening to allow Joe's goon admittance. The door was only open long enough to let the gargantuan oaf inside but that was long enough for Fletcher to hear the voice from earlier.  
"Please, Get away I just want my mom, please, I'll be good. Just let me go"  
There was an edge to the voice, like the girl was on the verge of tears, This just caused her captors to laugh. They were enjoying this far too much.

Perhaps Fletcher's thoughts should have been more focused 6"4 slab of meat that had just entered the room but all he could think was '_It looks like I've found that all important third reason I was looking for '_ and that thought alone left him feeling just a little bit giddy, so much so that he let out a bark of laughter. This confused 'Pork chop' who had just began to bend over to pick Fletcher up from the floor so that he could tie him to the chair again. In his confusion Pork chop paused midway into his crouch. This was the opening that Fletcher needed. So he took it.

A swift raise of his leg sent his boot directly into the side of Pork chop's jaw and sent him sprawling across the floor to land face down a few feet away in a slight daze, Fletcher took this chance to get himself upright and rolled up onto his knees and quickly stood up and realizing that his opponent was still down he struck, It was all over relatively quickly from the kick to the point he grabbed the oaf's head and twisted till he heard the tell-tale *snap* of the spinal chord breaking less than 10 seconds had passed.

Fletcher made quick work of searching the body and found two hunting knives and a pistol with half a clip, This he could work with. With that though in mind he made his way to the door.

The corridor outside was approximately 30 metres long and had 7 doors and flight of stairs connected to it finding the room with the girl wouldn't be hard, her screams could probably be heard from a block away in any direction, second door on the right. The door was ajar the opening was maybe an inch wide, just enough to look through. The girl was pinned to the floor underneath Joe who was straddling her stomach and holding her arms to her sides, His other two goons were also in the room one standing beside the doorway and the other standing across the room both laughing uproariously as their leader terrorized a child.

Fletcher adjusted his grip on the knife in his right hand and burst through the door immediately delivering a killing stab to the heart of the goon beside the doorway he then threw the blade across the room and into the neck of the other goon Joe was in the middle of jumping to his feet before he took a bullet in his left knee and fell to the side with a yell of pain. Fletcher quickly advanced on his prone form and delivered a quick strike to the side of his face to keep him from moving and then straddled him so that his arms were pinned to his sides and both of Fletcher's hands were still free Fletcher than began to rain blows to both sides of Joe's face to vent some of his rage before finally dragging the blade he still had tucked into his waistband across the man's neck.

As the red haze that clouded his vision began to dull and fade and his other senses began to return to him he heard a sound that he wasn't expecting a soft hitching cross between gasping and sobbing. He'd forgotten about the girl. He turned his head in her direction he got to his feet and began to approach hands out at his sides to show that he wasn't holding any weapons but this did nothing to ease her agitation and the sobbing only increased and she started muttering under breath something that sounded suspiciously lie "Please don't eat me". _Great_, she though he was some sort of monster that was just what he needed. Surely he didn't look that bad. He looked around for a reflective surface he could look into and found none, so he grabbed the blood coated knife from the floor beside Joe and wiped it off on the dead man's trouser leg and used that. He did look pretty terrifying, the cuts that Joe had made on his face had reopened during his escape and there was blood flowing down one side of his face and the incisions at the corners of his lips had split and it looked like he had blood flowing from his mouth and dribbling down his chin. His skin was pale and he had dark rings around his eyes from 3 days without sleep. Upon thinking about it, the kid could be right. Looking around the room he saw a pile of black cloth on the desk in the far corner, upon closer inspection they turned out to be two balaclavas, the goons must have taken them off and put them there after they abducted the girl. One mask had the outline of a skull across the front the other had a bright yellow smiley face he decide to wear the latter and put the former into his back pocket in case he needed it later.

In the time it had taken to find and don the mask the girl's sobbing had quieted and she was seemingly becoming more aware of her surroundings she looked around and saw that her tormentors were dead and that the man who had killed them was standing across the room in a bloodstained shirt and wearing a ridiculous smiley face mask. She giggled, there was a hysterical edge to it, a heady mixture of relief and residual fear at how surreal her current situation was. Fletcher decided to sit and wait it out so he lowered himself to the floor against the wall, one leg stretched out and the other leg bent at the knee with his left arm resting across the top and waited.

A few minutes passed with Fletcher sitting silently, head tilted to the side, watching in amusement as the girl seemed to get control of herself and the giggling tapered off and she began to gather her thoughts before she spoke.

"Thank you"

Fletcher just nodded. He was surprised, after all she had been through she still had the manners to thank him. She must have decent parents. As if she was on the same thought path as him her eyes widened and she suddenly jumped up and went to the door, Fletcher quickly jumped up to follow.

Out in the hallway Fletcher watched the girl check the door opposite, the room was empty she then proceeded to check every other room becoming increasingly panicked after each consecutive room didn't contain what she was looking for by the time she reached the final room, the room that Fletcher had begun his escape in, she was once again nearly hysterical, she opened the final door and dropped to the floor in tears, another room and still no parents to be found.

"Oh god what happened to them, look at all this blood what if they're hurt, oh god, oh god, oh god .."

"It's not theirs."

Shocked at having her mini-meltdown interrupted she stopped mumbling and looked up to meet Fletcher's eyes and asked "How do you know?

"'cause it's mine. Want to look downstairs?" with that said, Fletcher turned around and made his way slowly toward the stairs turning his head every few steps to make sure he was being followed.

That sentence alone effectively took the wind out of her sails and she stood up and began to slowly follow.

At the base of the stairs there was an exit on the left that led to the nearly empty lot outside and a door adjacent to the stairs emblazoned with the words Storage in block capitals. That looked promising.

"Hey kid wait here a sec' Okay?" with that said Fletcher approached the storage room intent to see what was inside. On his approach he heard a low bass line growling sound that rose in pitch as he got closer to the door but the room was too dark to see anything through the small window in the door which meant his only option was to open it. So he did.

3 things happened very quickly the first thing was Fletcher getting knocked to the ground as something large and grey barrelled into his chest, The second was that the kid (Fletcher should really ask her name when he next got the chance) let out a surprised yelp and the third was that Fletcher started laughing.

"Gibbs, Dude!, get off, You're dribbling all over me and it's gross"

The large dog that had just knocked him over immediately dropped to the ground which left him led with the front half of his body pinning Fletcher to the ground he then tilted his head and curiously stared at the girl who was sitting and watching them from her place at the foot of the stairs.

"Kid, this is Mr Gibbs. Wanna come say Hi?"

The girl cautiously stood up and made her way over and slowly crouched down to pat the dog on the top of his head this was all the invitation the dog had needed and he shuffled forward to rest his head on the girls knees and looked up at her through hooded eyes. Fletcher took the opportunity to roll away from the dog and head into the storage room calling over his shoulder as he went  
"Introduce yourself kid, He's a good dog"

"Uh.. Hi Mr Gibbs, My name is Jenny Collins, I'm 12"

_Jenny. _Fletcher made a note of that as he fastened the various buckles on his kit that they'd taken off of him when he arrived here he then holstered his own pistols in the shoulder holsters and sheathed both his short swords into his scabbard that rested against his legs he then grabbed the ballistic vest that lay on the bench next to the other items and quickly put it on and finally he grabbed what looked like a grubby coverlet that was covered in an assortment of stains ranging from dark red to green, Most were black though, and expertly threw it over himself as a makeshift cloak. He then loaded up a gym bag with the other weapons and supplies he could see and pulled it onto his shoulder before leaving the room. In the hallway the animated chatting from Jenny to Gibbs stopped and he was met by equally curious stares from both of them. Great, they were making friends.

"I'm Fletcher by the way. Shall we carry on looking?"

It took Jenny a moment to realize what he was talking about and that made her feel a little bit guilty so she just replied with an affirmative nod and quickly got up and started shuffling down the hallway, Gibbs following her, leaving Fletcher standing there for a moment wondering about her sudden change in mood before he decided to follow.

A short while later they arrived at the final door and they still hadn't found anything and Jenny wasn't feeling particularly hopeful and judging by the fact that Gibbs was pacing in front of the door and occasionally releasing a low rumbling growl Fletcher had a feeling that the girl's day wasn't about to improve. In fact he was pretty sure it was about to get a lot worse.

As Jenny approached the door Fletcher placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her and turned her to face him.

"There's a shambler in that room" he was sure of it.

This shocked Jenny, _How can he tell? _She didn't realize she'd spoken until Fletcher replied.

"Gibbs knows, I think he can smell it."

Jenny realized that this short conversation was Fletcher's way of saying that he would be going into the room alone. And considering she had only met a handful of those things and was absolutely terrified, she didn't particularly want to go inside anyway so she acquiesced.

The room was dark and the smell of rot was overpowering and there on the far side of the room was a shambler knelt beside a corpse happily munching away, the zombie was a woman, she was pretty, or would have been if she weren't dead. She had blonde hair and defined cheekbones; Fletcher's first thought was '_she looks a bit like Jenny... Oh... damn._ '

"Jenny?.."

a muffled reply came from outside the door "Yeah?"

"What were your parents's wearing last time you saw them?"

"My mom was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants and Jackson was wearing some jeans and a sleeveless blue shirt."

Fletcher turned back to the other occupant of the room. '_Let's see.. White t-shirt. Check. Yoga pants. Missing'_ It was then that he realized that the woman wasn't wearing anything from the waist down and that the t-shirt was ripped from the neckline down to the bottom hem in a way that made him want to walk back upstairs and kick Joe's corpse a couple hundred more times. _'Okay dead guy, Pretty sure that shirt is blue and those are definitely jeans'_

"

Okay Jenny, I need you to stay out there okay? You don't come inside until I say okay?"

"Okay"

_'Okay. Need to make this clean' _Slowly approaching the woman from behind he reached around her he grabbed her bottom jaw and pulled her head away and pressed a knife into the back of her skull to sever the spinal cord. _'Efficient, No mess. I still need to do something about her face though.' _With that thought in mind he set about cleaning the blood and gore from around her mouth using the corner of his cloak grabbing a bottle of water from the supply bag and set about washing the red smudges that remained after the actual blood had been removed. Once that was done he set about redressing her in the clothes that were thrown in the corner luckily there was a jacket in the pile it was a way too big to be either of the dead people's so it must have belonged to one of Joe's guys. Once she was redressed he closed her milky eyes and said a short prayer. There wasn't much he could do about Jackson though, Most of him was missing and what wasn't missing covered in enough blood and gore to make it nearly impossible to clean away. _'Guess I'll just have to cover him up then.' _Fletcher quickly sliced the man's spinal cord before he pulled his cloak from around his shoulders and threw it over the body leaving just the head uncovered as it was mostly undamaged.

Fletcher walked to the door to find Gibbs sat across the hall, Jenny sitting beside him with her head nestled in his fur. As she heard him approach she looked up to him.

"My mom's in there, Isn't she?"

At the look of complete despair on the little girls face all Fletcher could do was nod.

"Can I see her?"

Once again, Fletcher nodded then turned to go back into the room Jenny following behind him.  
A few minutes later Fletcher realized that he was woefully unprepared to deal with a crying child somehow he knew that no amount of patting her on the back and repetition of placating words would help so he left her to her grief and sat by the doorway. Gibbs however had no such qualms about tears and decided that he would try to help the crying girl and had shuffled over to her and was sitting beside her just in case she decided she needed a hug.

It took 10 minutes for the wailing to die down to sobs and a further 20 minutes for the sobs to die down to sniffles it was at this point Fletcher decided to speak.  
"We need to leave."

Jenny looked down to the body of her mother and simply nodded.

"Do you want to bury her?"

Shocked, Jenny looked up to the raggedy man in the smiley face mask  
"Do we have time?"

"We can make time."

And so it was settled and they got to work Jenny took Gibbs back to the storage closet to look for something to use to dig while Fletcher scooped up the mother's corpse and started towards the exit. As he passed the storage room he asked whether they were burying Jackson as well. The response he got was unexpected.

"No, It's his fault mom's dead. It's his fault that he's dead. It's his fault we were even here in the first place."

It was said with such conviction that Fletcher believed her but he still wondered how, so he asked.

"Him and the guys upstairs were friends, JC told him that this was a safe haven and that we'd live longer if we came to stay with him, Mom didn't want to, neither did I but he was the '_Man of the house' _which meant that he knew best" Fletcher pretended not to hear the string of insults that followed but secretly, they made him smile. Only a twelve year old could call a man a stupid-idiot-poophead and mean it to be the worst insult imaginable to mankind. Still, The lady said no so he asked her to find something to wrap her mother in and continued outside. In the centre of the courtyard there was a large concrete planter with a large oak tree in the centre. The courtyard was enclosed by a large wall so Fletcher placed the body under the tree and headed back inside to help search for digging tools.

Less than 4 metres inside the doorway Fletcher knew something was wrong alongside the cluttering of crates being moved in the storage room there was another underlying sound of groaning and the tell-tale squelching of a body being eaten and it was coming from upstairs. Fletcher broke from his path to the storage closet and crept up the stairs and began looking through the rooms to find the source, all the rooms were empty until he reached the room where he had saved Jenny and there in the middle of the room munching on Joe's lower legs was Pork chop '_He must have been scratched or bitten before I killed him. It's a good thing these kills were bloody or he could've ended up downstairs with Jenny while I was outside' _The lumbering brute had already eaten both legs of the goon who was just inside the doorway and the goon across the room was pretty much just bones at this point but Pork chop seemed pretty occupied so Fletcher crept into the room and severed the spinal chord of doorway goon, just below the skull and crept closer to Pork chop's back as he began to close the final meter Pork chop spun around and lunged, they both fell to the ground in a tangled heap with a loud thud. Above the sound of snapping teeth and groaning Fletcher absently realized that the clattering from downstairs had stopped. That was bad, if Jenny came upstairs and saw this she'd probably be worried and start crying then when he killed this gigantic oaf, again, He'd either have to comfort her or wait for her to calm down. The former he would be terrible at and the latter he didn't really have time for. So a quick fight was pretty much mandatory at this point. The fight was made a little bit easier by the fact that the lumbering brute couldn't hold his head upright '_Must have just broken his neck and left the spinal cord connected. Note to self: breaking necks doesn't stop the dead person coming back.' _a swift punch to the jaw nearly dislodged the big guy's head and sent him tumbling to the side, Fletcher rolled with him and quickly jabbed a dagger into his forehead twice. Then he was up on his feet and rushing toward the door.

He'd just managed to pull the door shut behind him as Jenny mounted the final step of the staircase leaving them face to face, Fletcher panting and Jenny looking worried and confused.

"What happened in there?"

"What? Nothing.. I tripped on my shoelace.. I'm fine.. Please don't start crying."

_'Smooth Fletcher. She suspects nothing'_

Jenny just stared and pointedly looked at the shirt Fletcher was wearing that was now covered in a thin layer of blood spray before giving up and stating that she'd found a spade, two trowels and had managed to find a sheet as well so they both set off down the stairs and into the courtyard.

It took Fletcher an hour and a half to dig a hole that he felt was deep enough to protect the woman's corpse from weather and other shamblers and a further 45 minutes to manoeuvre the tightly wrapped body into the grave in a way that looked dignified and to refill the grave and he left Jenny to rearrange the flowers in the planter any way the saw fit while he went inside to grab his cloak and look for a grave marker. After donning his cloak he proceeded to the other end of the building, in the lobby there was a three foot tall statue of an angel with its head tilted back so that it was looking up and there was a small hole where the angel's lips were, it's feet rested in a basin of water and there was a cable coming from the back that connected it to the buildings power '_Probably a water feature or something to liven up the waiting area.'_ he quickly set about cutting the cable away from the statue and hefted it across his shoulder and made his way back to the courtyard. He found Jenny rearranging some yellow flowers of some sort and waited for her to finish her current batch before coughing to get her attention. She turned to see what he had brought back and noticed the angel on his shoulder and nodded with a smile. '_It was perfect'_ so Fletcher set about placing it at the head of the grave then sat down to watch Jenny finish organising the flowers, Gibbs lying next to him in the last light as the sun began to drop over the horizon.

"This has been a pretty crazy day, huh, boy?"  
The dog looked to him let out a slow breath and dropped his head back to his paws. This made Fletcher smile as he continued his one sided conversation.  
"Yeah, you're right dude, But it's over now"  
With that said he decided he would lay back and rest until Jenny finished what she was doing, He needed a little rest anyway.

"Hoo-ee Darlena, looks like we found a gold mine in here. Look at all these supplies"

"Dammit Merle, I told ya not to call me that, now help me look around and see what we got here"

'_On second thought, maybe my nap can wait a little while longer.'_


	2. Chapter 2

The voices sounded like they were coming from the storage room but without getting up to check there was no way of saying for certain so after sharing a look and a subtle nod with Gibbs, the man and his dog got up and walked in separate directions, Fletcher towards the building and Gibbs towards Jenny who had stopped her work to see what was going to happen. From his place beside the doorway Fletcher looked at Jenny and placed a finger over his lips, a silent request that she remain quiet, readied a knife in his right hand and waited.

The first of the men to walk through the doorway was large, not necessarily tall but not short either and looked to be in his mid-40s, If Fletcher were to pair a voice with an appearance he'd guess that this was Merle. The man walked approximately 7 metres out into the courtyard before realizing that it was occupied and stopped to stare at the girl and dog that were over by the planter, after giving an assessing look, he obviously decided that they were no threat because he continued his approach. After 5 more metres, leaving a 13 metre gap between him and the door and a 9 metre gap between him and the planter, Gibbs began to growl which gave the man reason to stop and reach for his waistband where there was a tell-tale bulge of a pistol; it was probably time to intervene.

Launching himself at the man, Fletcher tackled him to the ground before he had time to pull the weapon and brought them both to the ground, Fletcher led on his back with both legs wrapped around the man's waist from behind, one hand under the man's jaw and the other pressing the knife to his throat.

"I'm going to have to ask that you don't pull that gun." The words were spoken calmly a faint trace of exertion at keeping the man restrained seeping into the voice and Merle stopped struggling, moving his arms out to the side to prove that he was doing as he was asked and felt the subtle nod against the side of his head as the person holding him nodded in approval "Thank you."

Evidently hearing the scuffle from inside, the other man '_Daryl?'_ appeared in the doorway and immediately went to raise his crossbow to take aim at the man holding his brother hostage but Merle raised one of his hands, palm forward, in a placating manner to halt his brothers actions. Daryl trusted his brother's judgement so he lowered his crossbow again but did not relinquish his grip.

"Okay Mister, seems to me like we might have gotten off on the wrong foot, what say you just put your knife away and we talk like civilised adults?" Merle's voice was grating, an almost raspy quality to it.

Fletcher's grip on his knife tightened and he shared a silent glance with Daryl, his eyes flicking above his own head to draw the man's attention to the girl and dog who were silently observing from there place a few metres away. An unspoken request that they were not harmed. Daryl nodded and further lowered his crossbow and Fletcher pulled the knife away from Merle, placing a hand between the man's shoulders and pushing in an effort to help him up, before rolling to his own feet.

Now that tensions were lowered, Fletcher walked back towards the planter and took a seat between Jenny and Gibbs, Jenny slightly behind him and Gibbs at his side and looked back towards the two men, Merle who was rubbing his own neck and Daryl who was looking his brother up and down checking for injuries after a silent conversation, they both turned back to the others who were sharing the courtyard with them.

"So, why are you guys here?" best to get straight to the point, these guys seemed like the straightforward type.

"Looking for supplies and shit" at the expletive, Fletcher's eyes flicked to Jenny but she seemed unaffected so he didn't bother bringing it up. "Might have considered staying the night, place seems pretty secure. How 'bout you?"

"Same I guess, though I wouldn't suggest staying inside, the previous tenants weren't especially welcoming, No telling how many of the rooms in there contain surprises, and the upstairs is kind of a mess right now."

"What happened to 'em?"

"Dead." Fletcher couldn't conceal the grim satisfaction that that single word brought forward.

"What'd they do?" at this question, Fletcher looked down at his own blood caked shirt, then across to Jenny's slightly torn top and then finally let his eyes rest on the makeshift grave

"A lot of bad stuff, to a lot of good people."

Merle and Daryl both allowed there gazes to settle on the girl who was staring forlornly at the grave beside her and Fletches saw their hands twitch, a small unconscious movement, probably brought on from supressing an angry outburst to a situation they didn't like.

_'Good men.'_

"I gathered up most of the supplies they had in the storage room" Fletcher said, nodding towards the duffel resting a few feet away "But like I said, there are probably a lot of dead bodies inside. We'd have better luck going down the street, there's a gas station, Might have some food, and a couple miles past that there's a police station, could probably find more guns."

"Gas station was our next stop; we figured the police station was probably picked over by now so we weren't going to bother. Too much hassle."

"Fair enough, worth a shot though right? Would probably be more comfortable on cots than on the floor of the gas station anyway. Could hunker down for a few days with a little extra security"

"Ya make a good point. Sounds like a decent plan."

"Well okay then. Let's roll. You got a vehicle?"

"Yeah, Our Trucks in the lot. You and the dog'll have to sit in the back though."

Jenny's hands clutched the back of Fletcher's shirt "The girl stays with me"

"Well fair enough, Let's move."

* * *

The gas station had been a bust, most of the good stuff was gone, although Fletcher had managed to secure himself a large tub of jelly beans. A small victory but a victory none the less.

They were now settling into cells at the police station.

They were nothing special, just small rooms with a cot attached to one wall Merle and Daryl were asleep a few cells up in the drunk tank and from the fond look on Merles face, It probably wasn't the first time he'd spent the night.

At about 11:30 Fletcher was awoken by shuffling coming from outside the holding area, back where the desks were, Sounded like a shambler. '_Merle said He'd barricaded the door though'_ So he got up to investigate.

Looking through the glass pane in the door he could make out 3 shadows shuffling around the desks. _'Must have broken through'_ and went back to his cell to wake Jenny.

With Jenny roused, Fletcher walked her down to the cell that Merle and Daryl were sharing and his approach woke Daryl, at Daryl's questioning glance Fletcher relayed the situation

"Walkers out by the desks. Need you to watch Jenny."

Daryl said nothing, just nodded and Fletcher ushered Jenny and Gibbs into the room.

He pointed at Daryl "You" moved his finger to Jenny "Watch her." He pointed at Gibbs "You" pointed both fingers at Merle and Daryl "Watch them." And with that he turned and left.

The office space was small and cramped. Fletcher snuck in and placed himself behind one of the desks, the nametag read 'Sherriff R. Grimes' and there was a small photo on the desk of a man with his family, a wife and a son there was a smaller frame next to that, a picture of the same man with a plaque that read 'Award for Valour in the line of duty'.

'_Seems like a good guy, I almost feel bad for messing up his desk'_. With that thought in mind Fletcher grabbed a letter opener and a pair of scissors and got to work.

"So why ya hanging around with him anyway?" Daryl's voice broke the silence, he wasn't sure why but he felt the need to ask.

Jenny didn't respond at first, carefully picking her answer "He saved my life, and he helped me with my Mom. He dug her grave and found the statue and got the spot picked out. He did everything and he didn't even know me. I like him."

"Not just staying for the dog then?" the joke lightened the mood a little and Daryl felt a flash of pride at the small smile on the girls face.

Jenny hugged Gibbs and nestled her face into the fur at his shoulder "That's one of the perks" it was said with a smile and Daryl understood. A pet dog was normal before the world ended, having one now must be pretty comforting.

They both lapsed into a comfortable silence and a few minutes later Fletcher returned.

"All taken care of. Thanks for watching her" with that said he turned and patted one leg as a signal for Gibbs to follow. Jenny stood as well and made to leave but stopped in the doorway.

She turned back to face Daryl and smiled "Thanks mister"

Daryl smiled back but as soon as she turned away it turned to a grimace. These were good people and the thought of enacting Merles plan left a sour taste in his mouth.

* * *

Fletcher was woken by the sound of the gate to his cell slamming shut, He quickly took stock of his surroundings, Merle and Daryl were on the other side of the bars, Merle Smirking and Daryl looking distinctly uncomfortable Merle was waving the keys in one hand and shaking Fletcher's duffel bag in the other.

'_Son of a bitch._'

"Thanks for making this so easy brother, your stuff should keep me and mine going for a long while. 'ppreciate it." With that said, Merle turned and walked away dropping the keys in the waste basket on his way out. Daryl paused next to the basket picked out the keys and threw them across the floor. They landed just out of arms reach.

" 'm sorry" with that mumbled apology Daryl also turned and left.

'_Well crap._'


	3. Chapter 3

The sound of movement out by the desks a few hours later pulled Fletcher from his thoughts.  
'_Looks like Merle didn't barricade the door when he left either'  
_Deciding that the Shambler wouldn't be able to get to him while he was in the cell, Fletcher decided not to worry about it. Then it started rifling through cabinets. '_That's new'._

Attention piqued Fletcher stood and approached the bars to get a better look toward the doors of the holding area but with the door closed his view into the office area was mostly blocked so he decided to try and draw the attention of whatever was on the other side. '_Calling out could bring a herd of walkers. That would be bad. Maybe something more subtle and hope that any living person gets curious'._ Plan formed he reached out and started dragging his knuckles across the bars to create a recurring ringing sound that reverberated in the near silent station. The sound of drawers opening and closing ceased.

'_Well that worked'_

Footsteps approached on the other side of the door and a figure became visible through the glass. It was the sheriff, Rick. He saw Fletcher and a look of confusion briefly flashed across his face before he opened the door and entered.

Fletcher was surprised to see that the man was wearing his full uniform including his hat, although the guy was probably equally surprised to see what Fletcher was wearing, the balaclava and blood-stained shirt were probably quite disconcerting. So Fletcher decided to try and make a good first impression and try and get the guy to help.

"So.. Hey, could you just pass me those keys right there?"

Rick looked down towards the aforementioned keys then back towards the man in the cell "What are you doing here?"

"Long story. Key's first, talk second."

"Answer the question and I'll give you the keys"

"God damn.. Okay fine, I helped two guys yesterday and we decided that the station would be a safe place to stay for a few days, one of the guys stole our supplies and locked me, Jenny and Gibbs in this cell and left us to rot. Now give me the goddamn keys."

Rick looked past the man he was talking to and noticed, for the first time, that he was not alone in the cell and slowly reached down to grab the keys. "Wake the girl; I'd like to talk to her before I let you out"

Fletcher threw his arms up into the air, frustrated by the other man's assumption that the girl could be here against her will, but turned to do as he was asked. As he approached the sleeping girl the frustration seeped out of him, she looked peaceful when she slept. He crouched down in front of her "Jenny, Sweetie, I need you to wake up there's a man here who wants to speak to you."

Rick observed the interaction from his side of the bars and noticed how the man's demeanour changed while speaking to her '_Daughter maybe?' _he crouched in front of the bars and watched the girl approach "Hey there, My name's Rick, Do you know the man you're locked in there with?"

"Yeah, he's Fletcher he saved my life yesterday. Can you let us out of here mister? I'm thirsty."

Rick stood up and grabbed a bottle of water from the small bag of supplies he'd gathered from the station's vending machine and passed it to her. "How did he save you?"

"Some bad men got me and my mom, she died and they tried to hurt me but Fletcher killed them. He was hurt though"

"Is that true?" Fletcher was surprised that the man chose to address him at all but decided that answering would be his best bet.

"I was hurt before I helped her but yeah. I killed them; they tortured me for days and would have done worse to Jenny." The look of hatred in his eyes conveyed exactly what he suspected that their captors would have done. Rick could understand why he had dealt with them in such a permanent way, people like that weren't worth trying to save.

Trying to change the topic of conversation Rick turned his attention to the large dog in the corner "So I'm guessing that that is Gibbs?" at hearing his name, the dog perked up and stared at the newcomer then looked towards Fletcher.

"Go say hey you big lug." Gibbs didn't need to be told twice, he got up and walked towards the bars and immediately laid down as close to the man as possible then rolled onto his back, silently requesting a belly rub. His antics made the two men present smile and Jenny let out a small giggle before Rick reached through the bars and began rubbing the dogs' belly, the dog dropped his head and let his tongue loll out and let out a snuffle of contentment.

"Not that I don't appreciate this stellar conversation we've been having but could you unlock the door? I'd like to go find some food, none of us have eaten since late yesterday." at this Rick looked up from the dog and back towards Fletcher, his eyes roaming the man's figure for signs of duplicity, satisfied by his observation he decided to open the door and handed them 3 bags of chips.

"Sweet, Hey are there any more shirts around, this one's a little bit worse for wear" Fletcher said as he pulled the tacky shirt away from where it had stuck to him in places clearly showing the multiple knife cuts placed sporadically across the front of the shirt.

"You can check the locker room, might be a couple lying around, You could probably throw yourself a bag together."

"Okay, and what about weapons?"

Rick looked at the man's current arsenal ad smirked "You need more than you already got?"

Fletcher looked down at the scabbards at either side of his waist and the knives strapped to his legs  
"Probably not, would be useful to have something to deal with shamblers before they get that close though."

"Shamblers? That's what you call the things roaming around out there?" Rick's question caught him by surprise, he hadn't really thought about what other people called them, Was there a unified name for them?

"Yeah. It seemed fitting. Why, What do you call them?"

"I don't call 'em anything, I was in a coma for a while, I pretty much just woke up."

Fletcher stared at him, dumbstruck, and a little bit awed "You've been unconscious since this whole thing started, completely defenceless, and haven't even been nibbled on? You have got to be the luckiest son of a bitch I've ever met" The words were said with a smile so Rick decided to overlook the expletive and smiled back, a cross between amused and self-depreciating.

"Yeah some people didn't seem to be as lucky as I was." turning the conversation back to the earlier topic, Rick continued "There's a weapons locker out on the other side of the bull-pen, that was my next stop, was gonna load up another duffel you're welcome to take a look yourself"

"Cool, thanks. What about suppressors? Any of those readily available? Shamblers are attracted by noise, You fire that cannon you've got strapped to your leg, you'll bring down a horde of them and nobody wants that."

Rick looked down at the large revolver strapped to his leg, With the knowledge that the creatures outside were attracted by sound it did seem like a poor choice of weapon but still, it was his own personal weapon from before things went to hell. He couldn't just leave it behind.

As if sensing the train of thought, Fletcher spoke up "I'm not saying you have to leave it behind, I'm just saying it wouldn't hurt to have something else on hand."

Rick thought about that, It made sense so he just nodded and the 3 humans and their dog trooped out of the holding area and across the bull-pen.

After grabbing a new shirt, Fletcher met with Rick and Jenny in the armoury, it was still pretty well stocked, apparently everybody had just assumed that it had been picked over and nobody had bothered to check, so twenty minutes later the ragtag group had 2 duffels of weapons and a third smaller duffel full of clothes, Rick also had a police issue Glock with a suppressor in his hip holster and his Revolver had been moved to his off-hand hip, still on his person but not so close that it would be the first thing he grabbed as an instinctual reaction. Fletcher had gone for a more long ranged option and had grabbed a marksman's rifle from the wall mount, Bolt action to help with ammo efficiency and an adjustable scope to assist with acquiring targets at a distance, The weapon was now strung across his back. Before they left Fletcher turned to Rick and asked "Are there any more hats?" Rick just smirked and walked out of the room

Supplies gathered, the group made their way out of the station it was only then that a question occurred to Fletcher "Hey Rick, Where are we going?"

Rick thought for a moment, "We could head into Atlanta, survivors might have flocked there in hopes of safety, we might be able to find a larger group to join"

_'Or we could be walking right into a hornets nest' _Fletcher decided to keep that thought to himself "Sound like a plan but could we get a vehicle first I'd feel a lot better about going into a densely populated area if we had a big metal box to keep us away from grabby hands and hungry, decomposing faces" Rick stopped walking "What?" a longer pause "You were planning on getting a vehicle, right?" Rick looked off into the distance "Rick.. What was your plan" a mumbled response was the answer he received "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat it?"

"Horses, There's a ranch a little ways up this road where they bred horses, I figured we could grab a few and ride to the city" Ricks voice was an odd mixture of stubborn determination to defend his plan, and a slight hint of embarrassment that he had, briefly, forgotten that cars would still work regardless of the fall of civilisation.

Fletcher stared at him for a moment then snorted "Okay, I'm going to overlook that, I get that you just woke up from a coma and are still getting your bearings and everything but seriously, From now on, we're discussing plans before we put them into action, now come let's double back and grab something from the station's parking lot." He then turned and started to walk back the way they had just come and mumbled something that sounded like "Fucking horses" and laughed to himself, Gibbs let out a snort and followed closely on his heels leaving Rick and Jenny staring after them.

Jenny gathered herself first and jogged to catch up and Rick just stared and shook his head and thought to himself _'It was a pretty stupid idea'_ before laughing it off and moving to catch up

They'd found a cruiser and were now piled inside, Rick and Fletcher in the front, Jenny and Gibbs in the back all three duffels in the trunk. Rick was driving but still caught Fletcher looking at him occasionally and suppressing laughter. The drive into the city was filled with a companionable silence; nothing was said until they were within city limits and turned onto a main street and were faced by the sight of hundreds of Shamblers milling around in the middle of the street, at this point, Fletcher turned to Rick and simply asked, with laughter in his eyes "Still think horses would have been a good idea?"

* * *

**A.N:**

Started writing this a few hours ago, I like the way it panned out. There was a hiccup whilst uploading it though, some of the formatting went a bit screwy, spacing disappeared and words went missing. I think I got it all sorted but if you see anything I missed tell me about it and I'll fix it ASAP


	4. Chapter 4

Shamblers aren't particularly observant; maybe their eyesight was bad from where there eyes have clouded over, Maybe they had been distracted by something shiny but they hadn't noticed the cruiser pull around the corner, or slowly reverse back, For that, Fletcher was grateful.

As a group it had been decided that they should gather more supplies so they parked up and entered one of the larger stores at the end of the street, Fletcher's only request being that Rick stay near the entrance with Jenny while he checked the place for danger. 3 minutes later, He returned wiping the blood from his knife with the corner of his cloak and simply nodded his approval and the group set to work gathering things they might need.

"Jenny, Stay where I can see you. Gibbs, watch the door" Fletcher's request was met by an affirmative nod and a snuffle. Before the pair split up, Jenny heading towards the clothing racks she liked and Gibbs heading towards the door. Fletcher nodded and turned back to the rack in front of him and started grabbing some clothes. _'It's like preparing for a holiday or something' _Fletcher smiled at the normalcy of the situation _'I should probably grab a tent'._

* * *

Glenn was not having a good run, The walkers had congregated on the street he'd plan to scavenge which meant he'd needed to find another way into the stores from the back, of the 12 stores on the street, only 5 of them had alleyway access that wasn't locked, and the store that looked most promising wasn't one of them, which meant that he wasn't going to get as many supplies as the group needed unless he made multiple trips, _'Still multiple trips means more time away from that racist fucker, Merle. That's a good thing, Right?' _Silver lining found, Glenn set to work.

* * *

Something was off, Fletcher couldn't pinpoint what was different but there was definitely something.

* * *

Glenn was confused, he'd walked in through the open back door expecting to see walkers all over the shop instead there were just a few piled up next to the doorway, dead _'Re-dead?' _ Glenn stayed low and continued inside and started looking around.

There was a girl; she was alone in the middle of the shop and she hadn't noticed Glenn yet. _'I can leave her, she's not my responsibility' _even in Glenn's mind that sounded hollow so, staying low he began his approach.

* * *

'_There. Red hat, Poking above the racks. Second time in the past minute. Closer to Jenny this time. Need to check it out.' _With a wave to catch Rick's attention, Fletcher placed his finger on his lips and indicated for Rick to watch Jenny before dropping down and disappearing in the direction of whatever he had seen.

* * *

Glenn was close now, Close enough to see that the girls wasn't a walker, so he stood up fully to finish his approach, just as he was closing the final few metres he was tackled to the ground. Looking up at his assailant, he was greeted by the sight of a smiley face mask atop a wide set of shoulders, which were connected to an equally wide set of arms which in turn were connected to a large set of hands that were currently grabbing either side of his neck and preparing to twist "No! Please don't kill me"

_'Shamblers don't talk' _Fletcher took a closer look at the man in his grasp, closer to a boy than a man, Asian, small build, Most importantly not dead. Fletchers grip loosened, making it clear that he didn't intend to kill the boy but still holding him to the ground "What's your name?"

"G-Glenn, I'm not here to cause trouble, I thought the girl was alone, I figured I could help"

"You got a group, Glenn?"

"Yeah, I was here grabbing some supplies. I'm alone right now though, Supply run's work better if I'm alone."

Rick had been drawn by the commotion and came to place a hand on Fletcher's shoulder. Fletcher looked up at the contact, seeing that Rick was there to watch the boy Fletcher moved off of him and offered him a hand to help sit up. "Sorry, thought you were a Shambler. I didn't hurt you too bad, Did I? m'names Fletcher but you can call me Fletch"

Glenn nodded his head in acceptance before answering the question "No, I'm not hurt just a bit shaken, you're the first people I've seen outside of my group for a while" He looked around "How did you-" His sentence was cut off by growl followed by furious pounding on the window at the store front.

"Crap.. You got a car Glenn?"

"Yeah but it's at the other end of the street I worked my way down the alley and left the bags by the doors so I could grab them on the way back. Probably won't have time now that the walkers know I'm here"

"You said you've got a group, They open to taking in strays?"

"Should be, we're always looking for more hands for chores around camp"

"Sweet, if you can help us grab the supplies, we can drive you to your car. Sound like a plan?"

"Sure, where's your car?"

"Just 'round the corner, If Rick here helps me move the dumpster in the alley we should be able to pull it up to the door"

Plan set the group set to work and 7 minutes later they had the supplies split evenly between both cars and Glenn was leading them out of the city, chattering through the walkie-talkie about things they would need to know about the group, listing names and descriptions, Rick perked up at the boys description of people named Shane, Lori and Carl, Lori and Carl sounded like the people who were in the picture with him that was on his desk, Shane was still an unknown but if Rick new him he had to be decent. Reaching over to give Rick a congratulatory pat on the shoulder they once again settled into a companionable silence and listened to Glenn's animated chatter.

* * *

About 30 minutes later they pulled into a quarry and Glenn stopped his car and started to get out, Fletcher reached over and swiped Rick's hat and slid out of the car, placing the hat on his head as he went, Hat perched over his mask and drawn low over the smiley face, he leaned against the hood of the cruiser "Now son, Do you realize how fast you were going?"

Glenn, as well as the entourage of people surrounding him, turned to look at Fletcher and broke out in a grin "Guys, this is Fletch, He kind of saved my life back in the city him and some others were looking for a group"

"And so you brought him here without bothering to check with us." Accompanying the accusing tone a large man stepped forward and glared menacingly at the newcomer "We don't know you, Why should we help you?" The man's eyes flicked up towards the hat and he took a couple more menacing steps forward "Where'd you get that hat?"

"Belongs to a friend of mine"

Shane snorted and was about to call the new guy out on his bullshit before the guy turned back to the cruiser as the door opened and a man stepped out

Two voices, a woman and a child simultaneously called out "Rick" and the three ran towards each other and embraced tears of relief falling as Shane just looked on. Fletcher thought he saw a flash of contempt pass over the man's face but it passed to quickly to be sure _'Might need to watch him more carefully.' _

"Oh so the Sherriff gets a hug while I'm being while I'm being interrogated by tall, dark and over-compensating. Congratulations man, I'm glad you found them" The last words were spoken towards Rick who looked up when he was addressed and smiled a watery smile in Fletcher's direction

"Couldn't have done it without you brother"

Fletcher waved off the sheriffs reply "Get back to your family reunion. Hey, is there a Place I can set up camp?"  
Noticing that Shane was glaring at Fletch, Glenn stepped forward "We can probably find you a place near the edge somewhere; Stay away from the Dixon's though, the older of the two, Merle, Is kind of a dick."  
The blonde standing next to Glenn stepped forward "I'll help too"

_'I wonder if it's the same Merle?' _ Fletcher pondered _'Nah, probably just a coincidence'  
_"Well thanks beautiful" Fletcher replied before heading to the cruiser to grab one of the tents, He opened the door and ushered Jenny out followed closely by Gibbs and they followed Glenn and the blonde across camp, plopping Ricks hat back onto the mans' head as he passed the bundle of limbs that was the Grimes family.

* * *

20 minutes later they had a small camp set up and Jenny and Gibbs were in the tent taking a nap to catch up on some sleep now that they had a sense of security and fletcher was sat just outside on a fold out chair when he saw two men walk out of the woods. Two men he recognized as he got up to confront them Jenny poked her head out of the tent "Where are you going" There was the slightest hint of fear in her voice.

"To say hello to the neighbours, I'll be back soon"

Jenny followed his line of sight and saw Merle and Daryl approaching their tent and jumped to her feet "Mr Daryl!" was the only warning the younger brother got before he had an over excited 12 year old attached to his hip "Where'd you go?"

Daryl looked around finally locating Fletcher and giving him a questioning look. Fletcher shook his head, they'd discuss it later.

" 've been 'round" Daryl replied with a tight smile before awkwardly patting the girl on her head.

Fletcher had reached them now and tapped Jenny's shoulder "Hey Jen, Can you go check on Gibbs for me? You left him all alone in the tent, He might be lonely" Jen turned around, nodded her acceptance and moved quickly back towards the tent.

Fletcher's attention immediately turned to Merle, Delivering a sharp punch to the man's jaw. "That's for trying to kill me. You planning on screwing these people over too?"  
Daryl considered intervening but, to be fair, Merle did kind of deserve that.

Merle turned back fire in his eyes but quailed a little when He saw that Fletcher was a lot angrier than him and wouldn't back down "Nobody was hurt, you made it out fine! The girl don't seem to care!"

"That's because she doesn't know, Didn't want to ruin her by telling her that people like you existed. Only reason we survived is pure luck, Wonder how this group would respond if I told them what you did"

"You wouldn't do that, It'd ruin the girls view of people" Merle replied with a smirk using Fletcher's words against him.

"Doesn't matter much now, We've found a group, Good people outweigh the bad. She'll get over it" That said, Fletcher turned to leave but Daryl grabbed his shoulder

"Whadda ya want?" The Dixon's had a decent set-up here couldn't risk it.

"I want the supplies back, The ones you stole" Daryl winced at the last word, Fletcher's voice held less animosity while talking to the younger Dixon but Daryl was still ashamed to have their past misgivings thrown in their face.

"You can have some of the food. We ate some and the weapons went to the group"

Fletcher though about that, He was going to offer the weapons to the group anyway so that didn't matter "Fine, but He stays away from us" a violent finger jabbed Merle in the chest

"Done."

"Good we're done here, Drop the bag off after dark, less questions that way" that said, Fletcher turned and walked away.

* * *

**AN:**

So some of you might be wondering why Glenn was alone on the supply run, My figuring is that when the Dixon's showed up with a lot of extra supplies the need for a large supply run dropped therefore Glenn was capable of going alone

A side note, I don't particularly like Shane as a character, he was a bit of a dick so there might be some animosity between him and Fletcher.  
Stay tuned, Things are about to get a little bit more interesting and I've got plans in place to finally put some more description towards Fletcher so that you guys have an idea what he looks like


	5. Chapter 5

Shane was staring again. Fletcher was sitting at a table that Dale had offered him at the side of the RV and was becoming pretty uncomfortable. It was like the guy hated Fletch purely for existing. The glare intensified when Rick walked over and clapped him on the shoulder and started a conversation. Things were going to reach a boiling point, and it was going to be soon.

* * *

Shane stared at the new guy _'Fletcher' _Something about him was off, It gave Shane a bad feeling deep in his gut, he felt like he should do something, protect the group from this new threat. He'd seen Fletcher try to start a fight with the Dixon's earlier, and the Dixon's hadn't fought back that was a sure sign as to the kind of man Fletcher was If he was able to get the Dixon's under his thumb within a couple hours of arriving at camp. The three of them were probably figuring a way to rob them all blind while they slept and make off into the night. That was probably why the guy was wearing a mask, so that none of the group would be able to recognise him if they ever met up again. That startling realization was all that Shane needed to spur himself into action, He got up and strode across the camp towards Fletcher.

* * *

Fletcher saw Shane making his way across camp, a hard look on his face, like He'd just identified the cause of the Shambler outbreak. The larger man stopped a few steps in front of Fletcher and glared down at him, drawing Rick's attention from his seat to Fletcher's right. "Can I help you?"

The casual indifference in the smaller man's tone irked Shane it was almost as if he wasn't intimidated at all "Take off your mask"

Fletcher raised a hand to his face and stroked against the fabric of the mask, the slightest movement caused him pain as the mask tugged at the dry blood and slightly reopened the large cuts that had been inflicted upon him "I can't."

_'This guy's got some nerve' "_It wasn't a request, Take off the damn mask now before I shoot you. What, have you got something to hide? Don't want us to see your face before you take all of our supplies out from under us and leave us to die?"

Fletcher couldn't help himself, He laughed at the irony, A rich, full belly laugh, _'The guy thinks I want to screw him over, After I literally stopped that from happening a couple hours ago' _ He looked up to the other man and saw that he was livid, he looked ready to grab the mask and tear it off himself which is why Fletcher was able to duck away quickly when that was exactly what the larger man tried to do. Shane then proceeded to start taking wider swings at the smaller man that were all dodged equally as smoothly but then Fletcher's eyes were drawn to the approaching figure of Jenny who had stopped playing with the other girls from camp and had decided to try and save her Friend from the Big, Mean new guy. Fletcher ducked under an approaching swing and ended up between the larger man and the girl and held his hands up pleadingly "Not in front of the girl, let me send her back to play" and then turned to talk to Jenny her had barely crouched down to her level before a large, meaty hand grabbed one half of his face and swung him around so that he on his knees, both hands trying to remove the large hand that was tangled in his mask. Jenny was there too, both of her small hands trying to pull Shane's hand away but Shane just pushed her away with his other hand and Fletcher reached out to grab her but she fell backwards, grazing her left arm across the floor and leaving a shallow gash from the heel of her palm up to her elbow, without resistance Shane finally ripped the mask off and Fletcher was lost in a sea of white hot pain as all of his wounds were reopened in a split second, he fell forward, both hands to his face and Shane stood over him victoriously holding the mask above his head and looked around to see the looks on the faces of the people He'd just saved.

They were all looks of horror _'That ain't right'_ Shane looked around and saw the damage that had been done while he was trying to get the mask, the table and chairs that Fletcher and Rick had been sitting at had been knocked over, spilling their contents to the floor. The children of the camp were all with their parents or guardians, trying to hide themselves away in the safety of the familiar embrace, He looked down to his adversary and saw that his hands were still clutching his face but there was blood seeping from the sides and through the cracks between his fingers, He then looked towards the girl who was cradling an injured arm to her chest as the large dog that had arrived at the same time was badgering her to try and get a closer look.

Shane decided to approach the girl first, it had been an accident he hadn't meant to hurt her but as he approached the dog turned on him and dropped low, growling with its' hackles raised Shane paused and then proceeded forwards and as He reached for the girl, the dog snapped at his hand and he jumped back, he wasn't expecting such fast movement from a dog that looked so old, he tried again but received the same result _'This ain't working, I need to get to the girl' _ so he drew back his leg and delivered a kick that caught the dog across the side of its' head pulling a surprised yelp from the dog, it didn't back down though, just lowered itself a little more and growled louder.

* * *

Fletcher was in agony, the cuts had hurt more than enough the first time but at least they had been inflicted over the course of a few days, now that they had all been opened at once the pain was nearly unbearable, Fletcher was surprised he hadn't blacked out he sat there for a minute and then heard Shane walk away from him and then heard Gibbs begin to grown, He heard Gibbs snap, He heard the increase in volume but it was the yelp that broke through to him. _'Oh Fuck no. He didn't just do that'_

* * *

To say that Rick was surprised would have been an understatement, He'd never seen Shane act so violently to a situation before, His dumbstruck gaze was drawn away from his friend as Fletcher placed bloodcaked hands to the ground and pushed himself into a crouching position before standing up, fists clenched and turned his focus to Shane. _'Oh crap'_

* * *

Merle was watching with glee, Deputy dumbass had just fucked with the wrong guy. Fletcher had nearly killed him for trying to talk to the girl when the two of them had practically just met, Merle knew first hand that the guy had combat training and threw a mean punch and Shane had just hurt the girl and the dog in the space of a few minutes. Merle almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost.

* * *

Fletcher wiped the blood from his eyes and saw that Jenny was on the floor cradling an injured arm and Gibbs was crouched low in an effort to protect her while Shane was standing menacingly over the two of them. Fletcher watched as the man took another shot at the dog and drew his leg back for a second kick, and decided to give the man a taste of his own medicine. Delivering a kick to the back of the leg that was holding him upright, Shane dropped to the floor in surprise, before swinging his gaze to his assailant _'That fucker wants to get schooled again? Well I'm happy to oblige'._

* * *

Shane expected the fight to be over quickly his opponent could barely see out of one eye and had lost a fair amount of blood, He didn't expect to be on the losing end of the fight however, That had surprised him. The smaller, younger man had speed on his side and was capable of dodging most of Shane's attacks, those he couldn't he'd twist himself so that Shane either struck an area that would cause minimal damage or hit a large solid bone such as a shoulder and injured his own hand almost as much as his opponent. Shane didn't realize until a minute or two into the fight that Fletcher hadn't made any attempt to attack yet, the younger man was sizing him up and learning his style, this realization came too late though as when Fletcher's first attack came, it ended the fight.

* * *

Fletcher Delivered a fast right cross to Shane's jaw before delivering a sharp jab to his kidney causing the larger man to double over clutching his side, Fletcher followed up with an elbow to the spine between the shoulder blades which drove his opponent to his knees before finally delivering a roundhouse kick to the man's chin rendering him unconscious, Fletcher remained standing for a minute, bouncing on the balls of his feet, as the adrenaline continued coursing through his body before turning, leaving his opponent lying there and turned his attention to the people he had arrived with there was a woman sitting in front of Jenny, expertly wrapping her arm, her hands moved quickly as if the motion was one she'd used many times before. Gibbs was laying close by with his head resting in the lap of a small blonde girl who was petting him and talking animatedly. Gibbs was loving it.

Smiling Fletcher turned to look for Dale, "Sorry about the table, I'll see if I can fix it later"

"Nonsense son" Dale waved him off "Now come on over here and let's see if we can do anything about your face"

"That bad?" Fletcher asked with amusement in his voice.

"Worse" Dale replied with a wry smile and let him to the other table by the upturned table before they both flipped it upright and Fletcher took a seat.

"I'll be right back" Dale said before turning and heading into the RV after signalling the younger of the two blondes to follow him. True to his word, he returned a minute later with some medicinal alcohol, gauze, a needle and some surgical thread "Amy here was in college studying medicine before the world ended, She's gonna be patching you up. That okay?"

Fletcher looked up at the girl before replying "Pretty and smart, I'll bet guys were all over you in college. I'm sure we'll get along fine" He was rewarded as she blushed prettily and sat down in front of him to start cleaning away the blood from his face, as Dale turned away, Fletcher caught his attention "Hey Dale, could you go and tell Jenny where I am, camp's not that big but I'd feel better If I knew she had no reason to be wandering around looking for me, Don't mind Gibbs, he's a softy"

Dale turned to him with a smile "Of course" and walked in the girls direction.

As Dale walked away, the older of the blondes walked over and leant against the side of the RV and stared at Fletcher evidently thinking hard about something _'Younger one is Amy, that makes her Andrea'_, after a minute or two it became uncomfortable "You keep staring like that and I might get the wrong idea" drawn from her thoughts at being addressed, she looked at the ground with a mumbled 'sorry' "Not a problem, Wanna tell me what you're thinking so hard about" Fletcher said turning to look at her before Amy cuffed his ear and pulled his chin so that he was facing her again.

"Just curious as to why you trusted Dale to go get your daughter when you could have done it yourself in a couple minutes anyway"

"Okay first, she's not my daughter. Don't get me wrong she's a great kid and I kind of like the idea, I'm not nearly old enough to have a teenage daughter, Second, Is there a reason I shouldn't trust Dale?"

Now that he'd mentioned it, Andrea took a closer look, Now that his face wasn't caked in blood or covered by a mask, he was quite handsome he had short, shaggy, sandy blonde hair and a defined facial structure, His jaw was well defined and he had his stubble gave him a roguish look. Realizing she had been asked a question she gathered herself and replied "No, I was just curious. How old are you anyway?"

"I'm 25. Jenny is 12, like I said, not old enough" Fletcher replied with a smirk then winced as it pulled on the half completed stitching on the largest of his cuts which followed the line of his jawbone. "It hurts a little to talk now that your sister is digging a needle into my face" Amy let out an indignant huff and pushed at his shoulder and told him to stop being a baby, Andrea smiled at the interaction as Fletcher continued "Tell me a little about yourselves"

And so they did, they told him about how what they'd done before the apocalypse, how they met Dale, what they thought of everyone in the group as well as a myriad of other topics that came to mind during lulls in conversation, Sometime during the conversation Jenny had walked over and sat beside Fletcher's legs and nodded off leaning her head on her arm which was rested on his knee something that both Andrea and Amy found equally adorable.

When Amy had finished she spoke up "The cut on your jaw was the worst, that and the one on your forehead were the only ones that needed stitches, the others should heal fine without them, come back in a few days and I'll take the stitches out for you" she handed him a mirror that Andrea had grabbed from the RV

"Hey, you didn't mess up my beautiful face, For that you have my unending gratitude" It was said with a smile so Amy didn't take it as an insult to her work and just punched him in the shoulder again, Fletcher rubbed his shoulder before smiling at the women "Thank you ladies, if you ever need company again you know where to find me but until then I should be getting her to bed" He indicated Jenny who was still leaning against his leg before he patted her on the shoulder, "Come on sleepy-head time to get to bed, let's go" Jenny looked around groggily before looking up to Fletcher and raising her arms above her head "Seriously?" the girls only response was to nod and wiggle her fingers "Fine but just this once" Fletcher replied before bending down to pick her up, she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist before resting her head against his neck and falling back to sleep before Fletcher had even moved. Fletcher wrapped one arm around her lower back and rested the other on the back of her head and mumbled "What am I going to do with you, huh?" before walking in the direction of his tent with a smile on his face, leaving behind two women with equally amused looks on their face staring after the adorable pair.

* * *

**AN**

Late update because I'm starting a new job tomorrow and might not have time to post before I leave, So a couple of points, This is the first Chapter that truly shows off my idea of perspectives, Despite my dislike for Shane, I still made him feel completely justified in his own actions by giving him a thought process that made sense. That being said, Did I make him seem out of character? He seemed in character to me but, I wrote it so my opinion is pretty biased. Point the second: Amy's past, as far as I'm aware, Isn't discussed much in the show they pretty much just say that she was in college, So I took the liberty of compounding onto that and making it at least believable whilst not having it have too much impact on the story. Third and Final point, Descriptions of Fletcher are brief and basic, This is for two reasons; One. I've always found it easier to enjoy OC's when I'm allowed to think about them my own way (I.e it's much easier for me to enjoy a story when I don't have to take notes about how many freckles an OC has on their left cheek or what particular shade of green their eyes are). Two. My OC is running almost parallel to the other characters in the show in how I decided how they look, whereas characters in the show had the actor's chosen to match the characters in the comic (Except for Norman Reedus who was so awesome they literally wrote him his own character on the spot) I'd pretty much decided that if my character were to be portrayed by an actor, It would be Jensen Ackles and then worked my way backwards from there to make him into my own character (scars and such.)

I hope to be able to put out another chapter tomorrow evening but it really depends on if I get the chance to write one when I'm done with work


	6. Chapter 6

'_Stitches are itchy'. _That was Fletcher's first coherent thought upon waking the next morning, the second was that Jenny took up a lot of space when she slept, That or the Georgian heat made their tent shrink. Jenny was led across the floor with her arms and legs spread like a gangly starfish, taking up nearly two thirds of the space the tent offered, leaving Fletcher and Gibbs to share the remaining third between them. It was uncomfortable, Fletcher decided that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep and decided to get up. Manoeuvring around Gibbs, Fletcher exited the tent and nearly tripped over a black duffel that hadn't been there when he went to bed _'Huh.. They actually returned it'_ he picked it up and threw it back through the tent flap and immediately heard Gibbs begin sniffing through it, Fletcher chuckled and decided to do a lap of the camp, grabbing his smaller bag of supplies, he slung it over his shoulder and his spare mask into his back pocket before grabbing the marksman's rifle he'd grabbed at the station and beginning his perimeter check.

two thirds of the way around the camp Fletcher came across Daryl preparing to head into the woods, "Jesus man, are you always up this early?"

Daryl jerked at the sudden voice in the stillness of the morning before turning to see who was trying to speak to him "Yeah, So's I c'n get outta camp before anyone else is up. Means nobody gets a chance to tell me how to do my own shit. Prefer it that way"

"Makes sense." Fletcher replied with an understanding nod before spotting a large bucket next to the Dixon's skinning area full of the parts of their kills that they didn't plan to use. "Hey, you don't owe me nothing, but d'you plan on using what's in that bucket?"

_'Is this guy crazy, We left him to rot and he says we don't owe him nothin', What the hell is he talking about' _"Was just gonna bury it out in the woods, ain't got no use for it, Why?"

"Gibbs likes fresh meat and hasn't eaten proper food for a few days now, mostly just snacks and junk. I'm sure he'd treat you like god himself if he got a taste"

Daryl thought this over and nodded his head, turning to go over and grab the bucket before he'd made it halfway, a low whistling chirp sounded from behind him, He turned to see the flap to one of the tents across the camp rustle before a large shaggy head poked its way through, head sweeping side to side as the dog looked for its master before spotting Fletcher and cocking his head to one side. "Get over here dude, Daryl's got something for ya" The dog looked towards the other man before carefully extricating himself from the tent and traipsing his way over, Sitting directly between the men and staring up at both of them.

Fletcher turned to Daryl "Go on man, it's your show, go for it."

Daryl looked down at the dog, who was staring up at him with curious eyes, before shrugging and moving back towards the bucket of innards Gibbs following close behind.

Fletcher watched as Daryl crouched down next to the bucket and pulled it towards the dog, who happily ate the much appreciated food, and pondered on the other man. You can tell a lot about a person from how they treat other people, but in Fletcher's opinion, you could tell more from how they treated a dog, People generally thought of dogs as tools or belongings. Daryl didn't, he was treating the dog like a potential friend, Fletcher watched as the other man continued rubbing the dogs back, all the while talking in hushed sentences with a small smile on his face. _'That guy is nothing like his brother. Hell, at this point I'm not even sure they're related'._

* * *

Daryl remained crouched by the side of the dog as it ate and occasionally let out a grumble of contentment, It was nice to physically see that he was making a difference, The other assholes in this camp never bothered to say thanks. It made a pleasant change to see that the dog was enjoying the parts that Daryl couldn't even use. Dogs were simple, you fed them and cared for them, and they'd love and protect you, people weren't like that at all, You gave a person food, you'd get an insincere thanks before they turned their back and paid you no mind. Daryl wasn't fond of people, they were complicated.

Fletcher watched as Gibbs finally finished eating and Daryl dropped his hand, expecting the dog to immediately leave, Fletcher caught the look of surprise as the dog turned and sat directly beside him and just stared. Daryl looked pleased so Fletcher spoke up "Looks like you've got a new friend. You give him food and you're pretty much family in his eyes"

Without thinking, Daryl replied "Sounds a lot like Merle" before smirking and returning his hand to the back of the dogs neck, scratching beneath the collar.

Fletcher chuckled before taking a good look at the rough hunter sitting there beside the large dog before making a decision "You know, I trained him as a hunting dog before the world went to shit, He's damn good at it."

Daryl glanced up, confusion marring his face, not entirely sure where this particular branch of the conversation was heading.

"I've got some stuff I need to do to get settled into camp, I won't get the chance to exercise him much today, I don't particular want his skills getting rusty." Fletcher let the sentence trail off

Daryl stared at the other man, comprehension clearing his feature before his eyes settled in a guarded stare, clearly assessing the offer but unsure as to whether it was genuine. He waited for Fletcher to continue

"He's damn useful; Wanna take him out with you? See how you guys work together?"

Now that the offer was out in the open, Daryl was sure that Fletcher didn't intend to trick him into saying yes before refusing , so he accepted. _'Wanna see how good this dog is'_ and rolled up from his crouched position as Fletcher approached pulling something from his wrist and held his hand out. In the palm there was a small bracelet made out of brown leather strands.

Daryl's eyes jerked up to Fletcher's face, "We ain't exchanging friendship bracelets are we? That's all manner of wrong and I ain't doin' that shit."

Fletcher let out a bark of laughter before responding "It's part of how I trained him, Watch." Fletcher put the bracelet back on and started to walk away, 20 or so paces away Gibbs stood and immediately moved to catch up before the man was lost from sight. Fletcher walked back, Gibbs followed and sat in his previous spot, Fletcher removed the bracelet and passed it to Daryl "Okay, put that on " Curious, Daryl did as requested and rolled the bracelet over his hand so that it adorned his wrist. Fletcher nodded before starting to walk away again and disappeared into the tree line. Gibbs didn't move. A minute later Fletcher returned "Okay, now you move." Daryl looked confused but took a few steps away from the dog, the dog immediately stood and kept pace before plopping down again at his feet when he stopped. Daryl turned back to Fletcher "Ya weren't kiddin' when you said he was trained were ya."

Fletcher grinned and shook his head moving forward to scratch the dog behind the ears, "He needs to see me give you the bracelet before he'll even consider listening to your commands but now you've got it, He's your wingman unless I use the override command"

Daryl looked down at the dog sitting obediently at his feet, and then towards the woods "You sure you're okay with me taking him out there?"

"Wouldn't have offered if I wasn't"

Daryl mulled that over then nodded, swung his crossbow onto his shoulder and turned to walk into the woods.

"Daryl" He turned back to see that Fletcher looked serious "Anything happens to my dog, anything at all, You'll wish you got bit. We clear?"

Daryl turned fully to look at the other man, there was no hostility, it wasn't a threat, it was merely said to make sure that Daryl understood that he was being trusted to look after the man's best friend "You got my word"

Both men shared a solemn nod before turning away from each other and heading in opposite direction.


	7. Chapter 7

When Shane awoke the morning after his altercation, he was in pain, a lot of pain. Now that his injuries had had time to develop and there was no longer adrenaline overriding the pain he realized that perhaps direct confrontation may not have been the best option. The right side of his face was swollen to double its normal size and he was pretty sure he probably had severe bruising around both of his eyes, the back of his knee ached almost constantly, even when stationary, and there was a tightness in his spine that sent arcs of pain throughout his body every time he even thought about moving. All things considered, he felt terrible. Still, there were things that needed to be done so he slowly got himself dressed and hobbled out of his tent.

It took Shane longer than usual to make his rounds but after 20 minutes he'd finally made it to the RV, his last stop, Only to be stopped in his tracks when he saw the new guy sitting at a newly repaired table with Andrea and Dale smiling and drinking a bottle of water _'That's probably from our supplies' _Seeing this Shane stormed forward Aches and pains forgotten and approached the table with a stormy look on his face, preparing to give the asshole a piece of his mind.

* * *

Dale was actually a really funny guy, His dry humour combined with his knowledge of the group led to some humorous tales of exploits that he had experienced within their group before Fletcher had arrived. After Andrea overheard Dale reciting the story of when she had nearly walked out of the RV on one of their first mornings without a shirt, and had promptly declared that it was fine because it had been hot the night before and Dale had been on watch and that she had been sleep deprived and it was early and pretty much any other excuse that sounded reasonable she sat down at the table and joined the conversation, eager to move the topic of conversation away from herself.

The three of them had been talking for about 15 minutes when Dale and Andrea saw Shane staring at them and beginning his approach, Dale and Andrea were on the side of the table facing out towards the camp while Fletcher was facing them and consequently the side of the RV.

Noticing the lull in conversation, Fletcher looked up at his companions and saw that something behind him had drew their attention. He turned to see that Shane was standing behind him trying to look imposing whilst glaring down at him. Fletcher took a moment to look at the man and take in the extent of the damage he had caused the previous night. Shane was shifting from one leg to the other and his shoulders were bunched together making the larger man look stressed and agitated, pairing that with his bruised, swollen face and the attempted glare that he was currently the target of, Fletcher smirked before throwing a sloppy salute and mumbling "well G'morning to you too, beautiful" before turning back to the table and trying to restart the conversation.

* * *

Shane was livid, _'Who the hell does this guy think he is!' _ Lurching forward he swiped the nearly full bottle of water out of the other man's hands before leaning down to the other man's ear and Hissing through his teeth "It's not decent to help yourself to other peoples supplies, They might get the wrong idea and think that you're not trustworthy." The last bit was accompanied with a smirk as he planted a meaty hand on the other man's shoulder and slamming it down a few times, far harder than necessary whilst taking a drink from the bottle. Fletcher turned to the other man his own smirk in place, before striking, his hand hit the bottom of the water bottle hitting it upwards out of Shane's hand and catching it mid-air, using the hem of his shirt he wiped the lip of the bottle with a grimace before taking a long gulp. "I'll bare that in mind, but this one was mine" and with that said, he turned and left, leaving Shane to glare after him.

After a minute, Shane sat at the table across from the others and tried to start up a conversation, Dale politely excused himself immediately and went to go and keep watch from the top of the RV, immediately followed by Andrea leaving Shane sitting alone with his thoughts.

_'What's their problem? Can't they see that the new guy is trouble? When he screws us over, It's their problem.'_ Resigning himself to observing until he could walk without feeling like his knee was going to explode.

* * *

**A.N: ** So uhh.. Hi? It's been a while.. How are you?.. Really, that's good, glad to hear it.  
On a more serious note though, I'm kind of sorry that I haven't updated in a while, That new job is a thing that's still happening. I'm an adult, doing mature, adult things (That sounded less weird in my head) These things need to be counteracted with extensive playing of video games which doesn't leave me all that much free time, So here's a short chapter to tide you over while I start trying to get back into the swing of things.


	8. Chapter 8

Fletcher made his way across the camp, taking long strides to get away from Shane as fast as possible, deciding that his tent should be his next stop, he headed in that direction.

As he approached, he heard raspy hitching breaths coming from inside. For some reason, Jenny was panicking about something.

"..Jenny?" Fletcher called as he approached the tent and began to undo the zipper and open the tent flap only to be hit to the ground as something small and ginger hit him in the stomach.  
It took a moment to regain his bearings, but when he did he realized that he was now led on his back with the weight of a crying girl in his arms. _'Somebody is going to pay for this'_

"Okay munchkin, you're scaring me, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Jenny's only response let out a series of un-intelligible murmurs between hitching breaths and wailing sobs.

"I didn't understand what you just told my kiddo, I need you to calm down so I know what I need to do to help"

More un-intelligible murmurs and Fletcher made out the words "You", "Gibbs", "Gone" and "Dead"

'_Well fuck. Of course she's upset you moron. You left her to wake up alone in a tent in a place she doesn't know surrounded by people she doesn't trust yet. How could you be so monumentally stupid?"_

Brought out of his thoughts by Jenny's arms constricting painfully around him he looked down to her and saw that she was still crying _'Okay, first things first, Stop the crying. Contemplate your own idiocy later'_

Wrapping both arms around the girl he squeezed her reassuringly and started to murmur into her hair.

It took about 10 minutes for the sobbing to quiet down to sniffles but Jenny still refused to let go of Fletcher so they continued to lie there on the ground outside their tent , Fletcher had closed his eyes and began berating himself for being an idiot but was still rubbing Jenny's back in a comforting manner, Jenny still had her face pressed into Fletcher's chest so neither realized that they were gathering an audience but when Fletcher opened his eyes he saw that some of the mothers from around the camp had gathered and were staring at him from about 10 metres away, Dale and Andrea were watching from the top of the RV and everybody else appeared to be watching from various places around camp but were trying to look like they weren't.

The blonde girl from the night before was standing with her mother wringing her hands and looking like she wanted to do something for her new friend but didn't want to intrude so Fletcher looked in their direction and waved her over, upon seeing the gesture she looked up over her shoulder to her mother as a silent plea for permission, her mother gave Fletcher a questioning look and he waved again to indicate that she could come over as well, so together both of them began to approach. As the pair reached the bundle of limbs lying on the floor they stopped, looking down at the ground as if waiting for orders.

Fletcher looked up at the two of them before he spoke, "Well hey the Blondie, Could you do me a favour?" the girls looks up, for some reason surprised at being asked to do something before giving a slow nod "Thanks sweetie, Can you just go inside my tent for a second and grab the bag that's just inside the opening?" at this the girls looked up at her mother and waited for permission, The woman looked down at fletcher and narrowed her eyes slightly, scrutinizing the man before giving an almost imperceptible nod. The girl span in the direction of the tent before moving in that direction.

There was an almost awkward silence once the girl had left, Fletcher was looking up at the woman and she was staring down at him, so Fletcher decided to break the silence,

"Thank you" at the woman's confused look, he continued "For patching up Jenny last night, It just occurred to me that I never properly thanked you, so Thank you, I owe you one." The last part was said with a slight smile.

There was a brief flicker of emotion over the woman's face it looked like shock _'Why would she be surprised by being thanked?' _but the look passed quickly and she composed her face again "It was nothing"

"No Darlin', You didn't know us but you stepped forward to help and that's most definitely somethin'"

She looked down at the Fletcher and shifted uncomfortably "I'm married, I don't know what you want from me but I feel like I should make sure that you know that"

"Uhh.." Fletcher ran over the conversation in his head trying to figure out what she meant by that _'Could the nicknames make her uncomfortable?' _ "Is this because I called you 'Darlin''? My apologies if it made you uncomfortable, but I don't even know your name, and calling you "Woman" makes me feel weird."

Carol looked relieved, and blushed slightly for jumping to conclusions "Carol, My name is Carol," just then her daughter approached "And this is Sophia."

Fletcher raised one arm to offer them both an awkward handshake "Well it's a pleasure to meet you both." After both of them shook his hand he turned to Sophia "Hey, in that bag there's a tub of jelly beans, could you grab it?" the girl quickly complied and pulled out the tub before placing it on the ground next to Fletcher and Jenny before backing away, her eyes however remained locked onto the tub a fact that neither adult missed, so Fletcher raised his eyes to look at Carol silently asking permission to offer the girls some, Carol looked at Fletcher, then to the tub and then at Sophia, who was intently staring at the tub as if hoping to absorb some of the sugary treats purely with the power of her mind, before turning back to Fletcher and nodding. Fletcher turned back to Sophia  
"You want some?"

The girl looked up at him as if he'd just offered her a puppy before looking up to her mother who nodded again causing Sophia to whip her head back around and nod emphatically.

"Okay, grab a handful, and could you flip the cap upside down and fill it too? I'm sure Jenny would like some aswell" the last part was accompanied by an almost shrugging motion that lightly jostled the girl in question, she merely grumbled, turning her face Sophia and nodded, Still resting her head against Fletcher's chest.

"Well damn Grumbles, You're in a foul mood, can we sit up now?" Jenny merely glared up at him before lightly smacking his chest with the back of her hand and sitting up with a huff, When Fletcher tried to do the same she pushed him back down and then proceeded to sit on his stomach, pinning him to the floor. Jenny nonchalantly turned to Sophia who was enthralled by the byplay between them. Jenny merely looked back down at Fletcher and smirked.

Fletcher leant up on his elbows and lightly glared at her before saying" Oh, I see how it is; I'm only allowed to move with your permission. Well fine. I can do that" before dropping himself back to the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust. And so they remained like that, Sophia and Jenny sitting across from each other, whilst fletcher lay in the dirt as Carol looked on in amusement as both girls paid the man no attention.

Fletcher noticed that while Sophia was happily eating jelly beans like they were going out of style, Jenny would pick them up one at a time, look at them and if they were blue, put them back down.

"You don't like the blue ones?" Fletcher's questioned surprised himself, he hadn't meant to speak out loud but Jenny turned to him and gave a sad smile.

"I like 'em but Joey, my bear, liked them more, so I'd always give them to him, I lost him at the house though."

Fletcher just nodded solemnly, as if giving a stuffed animal jelly beans was an everyday responsibility before saying "Well I only like the blue ones, so can I have them until we find Joey again?"

A wide grin split Jenny's face as she looked down at him before she nodded and started moving the blue jelly beans out of the upturned cap and onto his chest before she turned back to finish her own jelly beans.

Fletcher poked the side of her leg "What am I supposed to do with them there? I'm not allowed to move, Remember?"

Jenny looked down at him, threw her hands up into the air and gave a long-suffering sigh before looking at Sophia and Carol, muttering "He is such a dweeb" before turning back and picking up the handful of blue beans and saying "Open."

Fletcher looked at her for a beat, confused before cautiously opening his mouth at which point Jenny began trying to throw them into his mouth. After a while Sophie decided to join in and soon enough both girls were giggling as Fletcher was being pelted with multi-coloured projectiles from all angles the game continued for a minute or two before an errant bean hit him in the eye

"Ow"

"Oh god, I'm sorry mister, I didn't mean it, I won't do it again I promise…"

Fletcher just turned to look at Sophia as she continued rambling her apology before cutting her off "Hey Blondie, it was accident, We're cool it didn't even really hurt all that much, just surprised me is all, It's fine. Don't worry about it"

Sophia stopped rambling and stared at him, clearly unsure what to do next; she just sat there shuffling uncomfortably.

The awkward silence was interrupted by a bark from the far side of camp which Caught Fletcher's attention, He patted Jenny's leg, wordlessly asking her to move so that he could get up. Before she was even fully upright he had rolled to the side and was upright and a few metres away, running to the source of the noise.

* * *

As Fletcher reached the small clearing he was confronted with the sight of Gibbs weaving around a walker that was stumbling after him while Shane watched on trying to aim his gun at his target, except that his gun wasn't aimed at the walker, it was aimed down, at Gibbs "What are you doing!" Shane immediately raised his gun and shot the walker in the head, before turning to face Fletcher and the few others who had been attracted by the noise.

"Your piece of shit dog was gonna attract more walkers." Was the only excuse he gave for contemplating shooting the dog before turning and hobbling away.

"And a gunshot wouldn't? God you're a dick." Shane turned at this a fierce look in his eyes before he saw that of all of the people gathered, none of them looked like they were going to disagree. _'They don't look to me anymore, I gotta prove that I'm still the Alpha male here.' _

Realizing that confronting Fletcher wouldn't end well for him he turned and stalked away.

Fletcher turned to the clearing and say what Gibbs had been protecting; there was a deer carcass on the ground that he was watching. Just as Fletcher was about to speak Daryl appeared from the brush and spoke first "Which of you dumb-asses is firing a god-damn gun, You wanna attract geeks to our asses, I aint gon' stick around with you assholes if you ain't smart enough to have basic survival instincts dammit!" Seeing that there were people gathered he took in his surroundings, he saw the walker lying dead on the floor and Gibbs standing protectively near the deer, he walked over "Wa's goin' on boy, Geek try'n get our food huh? You di'nt let him though huh? Good boy" he crouched near the dog scratching his ears as he checked that the deer was indeed bite-free before looking up at the crowd all had looks of shock on their faces after seeing the rapid switch from 'swearing loner redneck' to 'proud pet owner' except for Fletcher who just smiled at the display. Daryl smirked back but dropped it quickly to be replaced with his usual scowl as he faced the rest of the crowd; he stood and walked past, discreetely slipping the band off his wrist and palming it to Fletcher as he passed "I'mma drop off my bow, I'll be back for the deer in a sec." And with that he was gone, Fletcher just smirked after him.

"Woman! Ain't you supposed to be washing my shirts?" Fletcher turned to the source of the outburst, he was a heavyset man with black hair and he was addressing Carol who was looking down at the ground again the man grabbed her roughly by her arm and pushed her towards camp "Get goin' ya dumb bitch!" Fletcher stepped forward to intervene but a look from Carol made him pause, she looked from him to Sophia and he understood immediately. _'Protect her!' _His fists clenched but he nodded slightly. Carol sagged in relief before heading towards camp.

Ed turned back towards Sophie who visibly shrank under his gaze before he approached her and reached for her arm, before he could make contact Fletcher grabbed his wrist.  
"Can I help you?"

"I'm grabbing my daughter and going back to camp." Ed exclaimed trying to pull his arm from the vice-like grip.

"I'll bring her over in a while, Her and Jenny were playing earlier, I'm gonna make sure she gets all of her stuff before it gets lost."

Sophie perked up at this "Yeah dad, It was real fun, me and Jenny are real good friends, I'll come back to the tent later"

Ed glared down at her and his arm twitched in her direction but Fletcher tightened his grip to the point that you could hear Ed's wrist creaking under the pressure. Ed grimaced and hissed through his teeth "Okay sweetie, But you better be back before dark" before taking a step away.

Fletcher practically threw the man's arm away from himself, wiping his hand on his shirt and grimacing before glaring at the man until he got the message and walked away. Fletcher turned and the trio headed in the direction of the tent as he walked he mumbled "I can't believe I touched him. My hand feels itchy." At this both girls giggled and Fletcher smirked.

* * *

Shane Sat atop the RV watching the women who were working down in the quarry, they were all laughing about something until Ed stormed up to them, a hush fell over the crowd and Ed grabbed Carol's arm. Shane scrabbled down from the RV heading in that direction _'Now's my chance to prove that I'm still top dog'_

* * *

**A.N:** 2 hours worth of writing, I'm fairly happy with how this chapter turned out. two things I'd like an outside opinion on,  
1. The relationship between Jenny and Fletcher, Would it be better as a father/daughter relationship or should I aim more for the Brother/Sister relationship dynamic? or would a happy medium be okay with you guys too?  
2. Jenny needs a pet name, Fletcher calls everyone by a pet name and so far has used a few for Jenny but I can't seem to settle for one, Any opinions are welcome, Your favourite so far or a new suggestion.


End file.
